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(Golden Revolver by San Cisco)
I reckon music is a way to get things off your chest without anyone knowing about it
so you can kind of disguise it with all these metaphors and things like that
and you kind of know you’re saying it but it doesn’t affect anyone else
I’m starting my first week of year 12. I’m pretty stressed.
I’ve been practicing every night after school with these jokers.
On Friday night we have our probably most important gig yet as CD launch
and then on Saturday we’ve got Big Day Out and then I’ve got to get my driving license next week
How many times have you failed that?
Three.
That is stress.
(Golden Revolver by San Cisco)
My name’s Konker, but my emcee name is Kontext
and I grew up in Sudan, but traveled to Australia in 2003
My name’s Du Plessis, my emcee name is Love Hurts
Yo my name’s Love Hurts and I’m ahead of my time earlier prime
but dead in line sights a hike mics a dollar for the illest rhyme fights
Making music, making beats, writing rhymes, everything
it just helps release the stress of being a teenager
When people say, “Listen you should have a talk with someone”
or “You know I’m always here to talk,” well the pen and the pad was that person.
The pen is good though, it makes me realize, that before all of this, I was living through the lies
The music that goes on in the Sudanese community is not hip-hop or anything
it’s more Afro-beat, it’s more like that
It’s just dance music, it brings the community together.
(Future Africa by Public Opinion Afro Orchestra)
Tell us about Afro-beat and your style of music.
It’s starting to catch on. I think that even people who haven’t grown up there and don’t know about it
when they hear it for the first time, it’s infectious and it grabs them right away and makes you want to dance
It’s powerful stuff.
In Africa I think people use music in a different way
In a wedding or a funeral in Africa, the music is the core part of the process of joy or of mourning.
Has one of your band members experienced depression or some kind of mental illness?
Mental illness can encompass I guess a lot of different things
like maybe not taking the time to talk to people about important stuff
I’m trying to do that more often so I can know my friends and family
I can understand a bit more about how they’re coping with things and just how they feel.
(Never Fade Away by Blue King Brown)
Personally I believe well being is the whole picture, it’s very round
and I think you need to have physical health, mental health, spiritual health and emotional health
I mean, personally I’m a musician but I think that music holds a very important part of human wellbeing.
The whole premise behind live performance, I think, is to bring people together.
We feel good together, we dance together, we sing together.
There’s real power in collective consciousness
and there’s real strength in remembering that you’re not alone
Hi, my name’s Samuel Green and I live in Gisborne South
which is a little rural town in country Victoria
While living in a country town, you tend to face a lot more issues due to discrimination
like homophobia, racial stereotypes
and at times because of the isolation of the rural area
it feels like you haven’t really got many people to talk to
but as long as you keep some close friends and close family members
and keep them informed about how you’re feeling then you can get through issues like that
(Northcote (So Hungover) by The Bedroom Philosopher)
How do you think where you grew up influenced your music?
I always felt like a bit of an outsider
Burnie is kind of an industrial, meat-and-potatoes coastal town in Tasmania
on Tasmania’s northwest coast, it’s kind of like Summer Bay meets Guantanamo Bay
It's kind of like you know, “What’re you looking at?”
Those were the first words I ever heard as I was being born by the doctor.
I grew up around suppressed men most of my life and so I think most of my artistic output
has been about kind of remedying that as much as possible and
being the most expressive, flamboyant, out there kind of guy I can be
I just want to have the conversation about mental illness more
because most of my life’s been defined by mental illness
mostly by my mother’s suffering and my own touches with depression so it’s really hard
Mental health awareness needs more jokes
and at first when you’re trying to get teenagers interested in something, make it sexy for guys
Like I saw on Wikipedia that Beyonce is listed in the celebrities who have suffered depression
Get a pamphlet with Beyonce on it. It's like, Feeling depressed?
So is Beyonce, and she’s working some gold onesie. I’m like, alright.
(Northcote (So Hungover) by The Bedroom Philosopher)
(Just a Little Bit (Crazy) by Optamus)
My name is Scott Griffiths, my stage name is Optamus.
I’ve been a hip-hop musician for about eight years.
I was the one that didn’t do well academically at high school
and I can remember having points in high school where I felt really down on myself and depressed
Some of the times I used to just write my feelings on paper and I always thought from that point on
that if I ever had issues that I would write it so I could read what I was feeling
It’s all about issues, the issues be what hit you, hit you harder every time no matter what you did do
Deserve this, you’re nervous, so why try interpret
the feelings that you got because it’ll never be a deterrent
Some people perceive people who suffer from mental illnesses
as being not sick or not hurt
If you break your leg people can go, “Wow! That guy’s got a broken leg, so he’s obviously hurt”
but because mental illness is something that’s instilled inside your brain
people don’t perceive it in the same way
They don’t give people the opportunity to recover and mental illness is something that everyone suffers with
If you don’t suffer it, someone in your family will
your mom or your dad or your sister or your brother or your cousin or your friend
Hi my name’s Jeremy I go by the DJ alias of DJ Jeremy Tucker
I’m all about something that cranks hard, something that really gets people going
and really gets them in a good mood and I find when I’m in a bad mood
or if I’m feeling a little bit down, I’m feeling a little bit depressed at home
I turn on my setter and play some beats that get the heart rate going
(No Pleasin’ by Boom! Bap! Pow!)
Well Boom! Bap! Pow! is like a good time band
Music’s about having fun and dancing and that sort of thing as well as reflecting and being emotional
Do you find that your culture really influences your melodies and your song lyrics?
I don’t know. In terms of culture, I guess if we’re talking about aboriginal culture, it can be pretty diverse.
Every family’s got a different story and that sort of thing.
I’m from the South West and as part of my research work that I do
I’ve seen songs about things about being away from your country, being away from your family
or any sort of turmoil that a person may go through and people are talking about this in songs
This is Noongar songs. This is songs in language, this is before this country and western thing came through.
Has it got you through any hard times? I know music for me, I find it as a bubble.
You can’t be bored if you’ve got a musical instrument around
and then that’s also a way that you can connect with other people in playing music together
My dad, he’s got bipolar, and growing up with him can be somewhat of a struggle
It’s kind of broken up a lot of my family but initially that’s what happened
but in bringing it all back together and looking at it now it’s really brought our family closer
What are your experiences with mental illness?
Certainly for me, being a little bit isolated at times in my youth
Music’s been the way that I can find some way of connecting to people
which is I think what it’s all about
Everyone has some sort of troubles and if you’ve got that support there then you can turn to it
whether that be people or something that you can connect to people with
Got me to take a breather, but she comes and goes
(Heavy by Songs)
I don’t make much money off music but I kind of always knew that I was never going to
so as long as I’m proud of everything I’ve done, which I am, then I’m succeeding
If I’m stressed out or feeling depressed or anything I go swimming, which I love
I swim as much as I can. I have seen a counselor a few times which is really good.
I split up with my partner that I had a child with, after that I was quite depressed.
My sister suggested that I should see this person and so I did it and then it was really good.
I’m Kim Penner, I’m 21, I’m studying occupational therapy.
OT has many different areas that you can work in and I think mental health really appeals to me
because I’ve seen a lot of people go through some pretty hard times
I’ve been through a few down patches in my life, especially in the last three years.
I lost my brother in a motorbike accident about three years ago
and I just know like grief is a huge process
Yeah, I’ve certainly been in a position where I’ve needed to talk to someone
and I have and it’s been the best thing
(Bed Down by Split Seconds)
I think it’s a very important thing for individuals and also groups of people
to have music in their lives at all times
Often I’ll look forward to a rehearsal or a gig in a week if I’m having a week where I’ve had a really bad week
or if I’m feeling really just not very good about where I’m headed
I’ll look forward to a gig that we’ve got in two weeks
or I’ll look forward to a rehearsal that we’ve got to kind of make me feel better about what I’m doing
and to look forward to actually playing music with my friends and it really makes me feel better
I think if there was a young person that was struggling with what was happening
I’d probably suggest just talk to someone, anyone at all, and don’t feel like it’s stupid
and don’t feel like it’s not worth it and don’t feel like you’re being silly because it’s not silly
it’s a very serious thing or maybe it’s not a very serious thing maybe it’s just something you need to work out
(Bed Down by Split Seconds)